Most of all
by ThreeHundredStarsAbove
Summary: Bilbo and Frodo exchange their birthday presents. Warning - contains riddles and a bit of stolen sunshine ;)


**This little idea is based on a dream I've had some time ago: I thought you might enjoy it :) Please tell me what you think! ;)**

**Disclaimer: LOTR and all of its characters belong to Tolkien. One riddle is mine, the other two are adapted from _Dan Hersam's_ webpage.**

* * *

The sky was purple. Yes, _purple_. But when he closed his left eye – like that – it became a light shade of green... though if turned upside down, the colors changed to sunflower yellow and bright violet...

"Do you like your present, Frodo?"

The elderly hobbit stood in the doorway, smiling contentedly. Frodo moved away from the window, closing his palm around something round and small; the present for his twentieth birthday.

"It's wonderful! Or even better than wonderful!" he cried, running up to his uncle to give him a big hug. "I've never seen anything like it before!"

"Well, I would expect not," huffed Bilbo when released from the bone-crushing embrace. "That little toy here came from the best markets of Dale! Balin brought it with him on his last visit," he winked at his young charge.

Frodo slowly opened his hand to examine the gift for the hundredth time that day. It was a round, silver band set with small pieces of colored glass, forming a simple picture: A mountain so high its peak seemed to scrape the clouds, surrounded by a field of green and purple specks, and a thin line of a river falling down its slopes. When light shone through the stained glass, the world seemed to gain at least a thousand new shades and colors. He became attached to it since the moment he had unwrapped the paper on this rainy, September morning. The weather didn't matter, now that he held this wonder in his hands.

Uncle Bilbo had always known how to brighten up the dull days. Generous, kind and so unlike the other hobbits of the Shire, but being more of a true hobbit than all of them put together. He was... well, he was _Uncle_ _Bilbo_.

"I have something for you too," Frodo was suddenly reminded of the battered piece of paper he'd been hiding under his bed for the last two weeks. He rushed out of the kitchen to search for it, while the elderly hobbit was attempting not to laugh heartily at the youngling's sudden behavior.

"Bless my heart, what could it be this time?" cried Bilbo with a mock-stern expression. "A fishing rod? A caterpillar? A teapot without a handle?"

"No..." said Frodo, returning after a minute with a yellowed page in his hand and a look of triumph in his eye. "I've written you a couple of riddles. Real riddles, like the ones from your stories."

Bilbo couldn't help an (appreciative) chuckle this time. The lad knew how to bring a smile to his face and lightness into his heart. Oh, how he loved the little mischief! He couldn't have loved him more even if Frodo were his own son; nearly everything he did made Bilbo proud. It's been a hard task, a very hard one indeed not to spoil the young hobbit, which he felt like doing most of the time.

"Let's hear it then!" he said, shaking out of his momentary reverie.

Frodo led him into the sitting room and sat him down right in front of the fireplace, in what he knew to be his uncle's favorite armchair. He himself remained standing, trying to school his features into a mask of enigmatic reflection (he had decided not to reveal the riddles' answer and spoil the fun, especially when he was aware of the expressiveness of his features).

"_Let us then have a game of riddles,_" he began, repeating the words Bilbo used in one of his stories. He cleared his throat and then recited:

_There's one in nothingness, but none in each silence;  
While twice in omnipotence, it's not seen in absence._

Then looked at his uncle expectantly. Bilbo pretended to be thinking _very_ hard, while he had already guessed the answer. He didn't want to spoil the fun either.

"Now let me see..." he tapped one plump finger against his chin. "It wouldn't by any chance be... the letter 'O', would it?"

"Yes!" Frodo was a little disappointed, for he'd thought of that riddle for a whole afternoon. But then again, Uncle Bilbo was incredibly good at most of the riddle games.

"That was a really good one, my lad. Did you make it up all by yourself?" the elderly hobbit seemed to have noticed the sudden crease over his nephew's brow. The appreciation in his voice had been genuine – he was proud to have such a bright youngster as his heir.

"Wait, wait, the second one's much better!" Frodo gave him a wide smile, bright with excitement.

_It's red, blue, purple and green,  
No one can reach it, not even a queen. _

Now that one proved a bit harder. The older Mr. Baggins had to think a little longer, before an idea sprung to his mind, thanks to the beating down of rain outside the window. And what appeared after the grey, rainy hours, if not...

"A rainbow," he said, nodding his head absently.

"Right again!" commented Frodo, glad that it had taken his uncle a bit longer to figure this one out. "And now, for the last one..." he glanced at Bilbo, then recited:

_A mile from end to end, yet as close as a friend.  
A precious commodity, always given freely.  
Found on the rich, poor, short and tall,  
But shared among children most of all. _

'That's a hard nut to crack' thought the hobbit, pondering on all the things that could possibly amount to an answer. A mile... _as close as a friend_... a hand? No, it made no sense. _A precious commodity_... _precious commodity_... _found on the rich, poor, short and tall_... clothes? No, not good either. _Shared among children_... _most of all_...

"Well, my dear Frodo," he began after a long minute of intense thinking "I must say that it is–"

But then he saw the youngling's honest face brightening in a wide grin; not of triumph, but of delight at having given his uncle a good birthday present. As much as the sight warmed his old heart, it had also given him an unexpected idea, and the answer to the last riddle.

"...A smile!" he finished, bursting out with contented laughter.

At first Frodo's eyes went big with surprise, then he opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he just tackled his uncle with another bone-crushing hug. They laughed and laughed until they were out of breath and their bellies began to ache.

"How did you guess the answer?" asked Frodo, shortly after regaining the ability to speak.

"If you must know," Bilbo ruffled his already very messy hair "It was you, my dear lad, who had given me the hint... Though there is one line I'd change in that last riddle..."

"Which one?" Frodo eyed him curiously.

The older Mr. Baggins of Bag End gave a content sigh and hummed with the most happiest of all happy tones:

_A mile from end to end, yet as close as a friend.  
A precious commodity, always given freely.  
Found on the rich, poor, short and tall,  
But shared among hobbits most of all._


End file.
